Saint Joseph Catholic Church

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Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., discussed a recent Mass marking the 50th anniversary of a same-sex couple. During the Mass, at which Cardinal Radcliffe preached the homily, Father Jim O’Keefe led “the assembled clergy in blessing” the couple, according to New Ways Ministry.

“I gave no blessing to anyone and had not been aware that any blessings would be given,” said Cardinal Radcliffe.

The Mass, described as a Mass of Thanksgiving for 50 Years of Friendship, Partnership, and Commitment in the Pursuit of Justice, “was not designed to celebrate gay relationships as such,” he continued. “To promote it as such would be to misrepresent it. To do so for the purposes of exciting scandal would be morally wrong.”

Cardinal Radcliffe added:

The guidelines given by the Church are that any such occasion should be private so as not to cause misunderstanding. It was agreed that this occasion should be private. Why the privacy was not respected I do not know. So making it more public by writing articles about it would be against the will of the Church as I understand it.

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs called for the release of Bishop Abelardo Mata, 80, following his detention by the Nicaraguan regime.

“We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Nicaraguan Bishop Abelardo Mata who has been arbitrarily detained by the Murillo-Ortega dictatorship,” the Bureau stated. “80-year old Bishop Mata poses no threat to the regime and his health is fragile.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel told Fox News that “Christian villages in Lebanon, some of them have actually asked to be annexed to Israel, because we protect them against the Hezbollah.”

Hanna al-Amil, mayor of the Christian village of Rmaish, responded that “15 Christian towns had issued a statement two days ago denying these allegations.” France 24 reported that most Christian villages in southern Lebanon “have remained inhabited despite Israeli evacuation orders, with residents choosing to stay to protect their homes, churches and farmland.”

The prime minister made his remarks four months after the beginning of the Lebanon war, during which Israel has occupied part of southern Lebanon.

On July 5, at least four incidents of anti-Christian violence took place in the Indian state of West Bengal (map).

Matters India, based in Delhi, reported that

• a mob attacked the home of a Christian widow in Murshidabad, “demanding she abandon her faith and donate her property for conversion into a [Hindu] temple”
• activists “seized Bibles and briefly detained worshippers” at a Protestant prayer meeting in Bankura
• attackers “broke windows, desecrated the altar, and damaged musical instruments” at a Mizo Synod [Presbyterian] church in Suvas Gram
• a mob attacked Grace Church at Faridpur during a Sunday service, assaulting the pastor and members of the congregation

Matters India linked the attacks against Christians—as well as recent intimidation of Muslims—to a new Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal. The state is 71% Hindu, 27% Muslim, and 0.7% Christian.

Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, met in Nigeria with Sa’adu Abubakar, the sultan of Sokoto and president of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs.

“We had a very frank and illuminating conversation,” Archbishop Gallagher told journalists after the July 6 meeting. “It was good to hear that many of our positions regarding the role of religious leaders, both on the Catholic side and the Muslim side, coincide. For me, this is a reason for optimism regarding the religious cohesion of the country and our shared commitment to working for the good of all Nigerians.”

Salisu Shehu, the council’s deputy-secretary general, said that “there was a strong call for all religious and faith communities to work together to combat hate speech, especially the growing and unfortunate phenomenon whereby some individuals openly insult religious leaders who are highly respected within their various faith communities.”

Nigeria, a nation of 243 million (map)--the most populous in Africa and sixth most populous in the world—is 47% Muslim, 46% Christian (11% Catholic), and 7% ethnic religionist.

Archbishop Dagoberto Campos Salas, the new apostolic nuncio to Ecuador, recently began his mission there.

During a June 16 meeting with President Daniel Noa, the nuncio “conveyed the greetings of the Holy Father, Leo XIV, to the Ecuadorian people,” the Vatican newspaper reported on July 6. “For his part, the Head of State expressed his willingness to keep channels of collaboration and dialogue open with the Holy See and the local Catholic Church.”

Archbishop Campos, a native of Costa Rica, previously served as apostolic nuncio to Liberia, Gambia and Sierra Leone (2018-2022) and to Panama (2022-2026).

Located in South America, Ecuador, a nation of 18.5 million (map), is 95% Christian (83% Catholic). Pope Francis made an apostolic journey there in 2015.